


Memories Lost, Memories Found

by Tetraktys



Category: My Candy Love
Genre: Episode 11, F/M, Memories, Post-Break Up, Second Chances, Sex, University Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 06:16:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18515596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tetraktys/pseuds/Tetraktys
Summary: Continuing my tradition of rewriting MCL UL scenes I don't feel satisfied about, this is from episode 11.The infamous box scene. I hated it with a passion.First chapter is common to any LI. Following this, I am going to write an epilogue about each of the three missing boys.I had to up the rating to Explicit because of smut in Armin's sequel, but just know that everything else is sfw.





	1. Intro

The package was full of pictures, old datebooks from high school, notes of all kind… I used to put absolutely everything in it, the slightest little note, pictures, everything that could remind me of certain times.

I spent at least two whole hours going through everything inside, going from happy to sad. I got the impression things were easy back then.

Then, I spotted something that took my breath away.

There were pictures of me and  _him_ …

Buried under a big binder there was everything that had once connected me to him. Everything that I had wanted to forget. A heavy weight suddenly formed in my chest.

Little messages that we had exchanged in class.

Notes that he had made on my homework those times we had studied together, half studying half teasing each other.

The tickets of our prom. That night had been magical… embracing tightly while dancing, surrounded by all our friends. The gym had been packed, but under those dim lights and slow music… only we existed in that moment.

A button… it was from his costume from our school play years ago… we weren’t together at the time, but I remembered it clearly because we were just starting to get closer to each other. His unusual bold attitude had surprised and excited me at the same time. When I saw he had lost a button I was about to call him out and give it to him but… I hadn’t, I just kept it. I couldn’t explain the reason at the time, not even to myself. Now I knew better.

And there were pictures, lots and lots of pictures of just him, or us together. I took one out and stared at it for a while. It had probably been taken during one of the many school organised events, because I recognised the familiar surroundings. It was probably the most ordinary of the whole bunch. In many we were hugging or kissing, but in this we were simply looking in the eye. That was it. We weren’t even touching.

I didn’t even know if we were together at the time, but that look we were sharing… we were completely lost in each other. When was the last time I had looked at someone like this?

I felt my breathing accelerate and my heartbeat increase. I wasn’t sure it was a proper panic attack, but it felt close enough. I couldn’t do this anymore. I put everything back in the box and left the park.

I wasn’t sure for how long I walked around town without a real destination, just trying to calm my thoughts. After a while I found myself in front of Sweet Amoris.

Without really thinking about it, I put my hand on the gates and pushed. They were closed. I remembered one time we had been at school during the night. It had been risky, we weren’t allowed to be there that late. Everything had looked eerie and kinda spooky, but his presence had been so soothing… I had never felt in danger when I was with him. I had never felt alone.

I had felt loved… as much as I had loved him. So, so much.

And now I had kissed someone else.

In truth, it hadn’t been the first time since our break up, but this time had felt different. I had had flings in the past, but this time I knew it was, or could be, something more. A part of me was finally ready to move on.

The rest of me had had a mental break down just looking at his picture.

With a shiver down my spine I took my phone, a plan forming in my mind. Opening the app I was looking for, I put in the address I hadn’t been able to erase from my mind since that first night back in town with Alexy and Rosa. Five hours away by bus… a lot, but doable.

This was crazy, I was going to skip my afternoon classes, maybe more. I had nothing with me except for my purse, and I had planned to meet Rosa in the evening, she needed me.

But I had to do this, I wouldn’t be able to help anyone in this state.

I left the box in front of Rosa’s doorstep with a note and walked towards the bus station.

I was scared. He probably hated me or, even worse, had completely forgotten about me. Maybe he was happy with someone else.

But this wasn’t really the point, was it? Yes, thinking about him in love with another… looking at her like he had looked at me, touching her like he had touched me… it was enough to make me feel sick. But I had to do this for myself. I had to figure out if what I was feeling was just the ghost of old memories resurfacing, or if it was real. If it was still there and had been all along.

It was finally time to stop running.


	2. Armin

I looked around the square trying to get my bearings. This had probably been a stupid idea. After the longest and most uncomfortable bus trip ever, I didn’t even know Armin’s precise address. That night at the Snake Room Alexy had blurted out just the name of the town and neighbourhood. I looked at my phone biting my lower lip pensively… I had only two options, call Alexy and ask for his brother’s full address or give up and go back home.

I wasn’t sure Alexy was willing to talk though, after what had happened between him and Rosa I didn’t know where we stood. However, I was willing to beg. I knew exactly what was waiting for me back home, uncertainty and drama. I had been almost on the verge to offer my heart and body to someone just a couple of days ago, and now… now I wondered if there was anything left to offer at all. I had already given both to someone else a long time ago.

I was just about to look up Alexy’s number when something caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks in front of a gaming shop, a sign hanging on the door:

‘ _Last One Standing_ tournament TONIGHT!’

Armin loved this game. I remembered the hours spent playing together in his room, we both had a serious competitive streak. We could spend the whole day just playing and eating take out. Sometimes… well, many times, the passion we put in the game turned into something else and we ended up getting distracted for a while. Had there ever been happier days than those when all I needed was my laptop, a slice of cold pizza and him?

I pushed the door and walked into the shop. A brief conversation with the sales assistant confirmed that the competition was about to start but I was just in time to join the if I wished to. Mostly, he was probably surprised, usually there weren’t many hardcore girl players. At least not many respects to the sheer number of male players anyway. I payed my entrance fee and headed to the basement.

Of course the competition was in a basement, or rather the ‘gaming den’ as he had called it. The place was very dark, and each gaming-station, there were about fifty of them, had everything any geek could hope for: state of the art gaming gear, energy drinks, snacks… also everything was positioned in a way to guarantee each player their own privacy for maximal concentration.

I only had a few minutes to set me up and log in. I froze when I got to the choose-your-nickname section, memories rushing over me.

 

_“Why do you always choose the same nickname?” Armin asked me, turning around in his desk chair._

_“You are not very original yourself” I pointed out from his bed, “your nickname is always one of the Ninja Turtle’s names.”_

_“At least I have four to choose from depending on my mood, and it totally makes sense, the TMNTs are my spirit animals” he replied “you can’t deny how much we have in common” he grinned pointing at the half empty pizza box and his small collection of nunchakus and sai on the walls._

_“I do see a resemblance…” I said with a fake pensive tone of voice. He threw me a pillow that I easily dodged._

_“I am serious though, you always use either Tetraktys or a misspelled version of it, what does it even mean?”_

_“The Tetraktys was a sacred metaphysical symbol for Pythagoras and his disciples” I explained, “You can see it as a geometrical representation of the number 10 as the fourth triangular number. It has many meanings and embraces in itself the harmony of the cosmos and the divine. It was seen as the image of perfection and, well, of course, it reminds me to aim to perfection in everything I do.” I grinned “the misspelling part is my way of pointing out that something imperfect can be perfect in its own way.”_

_He just looked at me for a few moments, then joined me on the bed. Hovering over me, his hands at each side of my head, eyes staring into mine “You do are perfect, you even educate me on ancient philosophy.”_

_I cupped his face with my hands “Happy to oblige” my lips drawing closer and closer to his._

I shook my head to wake up from my daze, I didn’t have time to walk down memory lane. I wasn’t sure Armin was even in this room, but if he was I didn’t want to be too obvious. I wrote _Tenn_ in the nickname space and chose my character. I picked Syberia, she was my favourite, very fast and perfect for long range shooting. The upside was that she usually wasn’t great for close quarters combats, but I knew her as the back of my hand and, in time, I had created my own fighting strategy.

 _Last One Standing_ was a game of strategy more than brute force. It consisted of three levels each one different but just as complicated as the others.

I waited for the first level to load. This part was about environment survival: the game loaded some kind of scenario for all players to face, it could be a jungle, an alien invasion, or something similar. Everyone had one hour to get to the safe zone, all players out of it at the end of the timer’s countdown were eliminated.

I stared at the screen, my heart beating fast, the list of players rolling in front of my eyes.

_Tenn entered the area_

_Asterfox entered the area_

_Shaman entered the area_

_…_

Other thirty or so names followed, then finally

_Michelangelo entered the area_

I knew it! It was him, it had to be him.

And now? It wasn’t like I had a proper plan, I had (possibly) found him which had been my goal all along, should I just get up and go talk to him? To say what? I wasn’t sure I would accomplish anything other than ruin his night.

I was still trying to figure out what to do, when the first level scenario loaded, and a very distinct memory came back to mind.

 

_“Welcome to Zombie city, Candy” he said gesturing towards the screen, a few days after he had introduced me to the game for the first time._

_“Yikes zombies! Disgusting things, I am going to kill them all!” I replied eagerly._

_“You will do no such thing” his voice serious “the level starts with just a few of them here and there, but the longer it takes you to reach the safe zone, the more of them appear. At some point it’s going to get impossible to move forward unless you have incredible fire power, and even then, only reckless players or thrill seekers are going to choose that option. No, the smartest way to get to the safe zone is this.” He pointed to a specific route on the map that read ‘sewers’._

_“You are kidding, right?” I replied dumbfounded._

_“You don’t believe me?”_

_I shook my head. We teased each other half of the time, it wouldn’t be the first time he pulled something like this just to get a good laugh._

_“Go on then, run through the city, collect weapons, try whatever you want and see how it goes.”_

_“You can bet on it! It’s on!”_

_It was a disaster, I died in the first five minutes. The second time was even worse. Eventually, at some point, after many maaaaany attempts, I managed to get to the safe zone. But he was right, it wasn’t worth it, the fire power alone and the time it took was just too much._

_“Fine!” I cried out, throwing the gamepad on the bed out of spite. “You were right, happy?”_

_“Immensely” he grinned with mischief “I do love the fact you spent most part of the night relentlessly trying until you made it though. I find it really sexy” he added with a glint in his eyes._

_“How sexy?” I replied raising a highbrow, turning slowly towards him._

_“Very.”_

 

 

I knew what to do.

As soon as the countdown started I headed straight for the sewers entrance. I could tell from the little red dots on the map that about seven other people had had the same idea. Once I got there I knew I had been right all along. The player called Michelangelo was there too, he had chosen Markus, a big tank who was great for hand to hand combat, but slightly slower than average without a boost. It was Armin’s favourite character and, if it wasn’t proof enough, he was wearing a blue beanie. The beanie was Armin’s good luck charm.

I stared at the screen like I was trying to drill a whole through it. We were together in the same room, but more than that we were in our element, playing together. I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought, we had to run, sewers were safer but not completely zombie-free.

My character was the fastest one in the group, so I was immediately in front of the pack. I was so focused on just running and surviving the first level that I didn’t notice the recess in the wall until the in-game chat lit up.

**Michelangelo wrote: Watch out on your left!**

I sidestepped the zombie at the very last moment, one millisecond later and it would have been on me. Given Siberia’s stats it would have been a real pain to get it off in such small quarters.

**Tenn wrote: Thanks, it almost got me.**

**SpiderWeb wrote: Dude, shut up. Less competition in the final level.**

**Michelangelo wrote: Level 2 is team-up dumbass, any strong team needs a Syberia.**

I knew how he felt about team stats, but I also knew that he was just a nice person. I was happy to see some things hadn’t changed.

SpiderWeb started replying obscenities, but dividing his attentions between two tasks was complicated. I chuckled between myself when I saw him being tackled by two zombies soon afterwards.

The next fifteen minutes became a frenzy of just running and dodging. I was a little rusty and risked getting caught a few other times. I hadn’t played in a while, now that I thought about it… I hadn’t played since our breakup. There wasn’t a specific reason why, I had loved the game in the past, but more than anything I had loved playing with him. At the end of the day it didn’t seem to make much sense to play without him. It just hurt.

After another couple of minutes, I managed to fall back into a familiar rhythm, I felt confident enough to start keeping an eye on Armin’s game. Markus wasn’t very fast without a boost, and there had been none to collect in the sewers to this point, so he couldn’t hope to dodge all the zombies like my character did, however he was very good at hand to hand combat. Also, Armin was a real pro at that, he could do miracles with just a pocket knife. I saw him pinning a zombie to the wall and stabbing it in the temple and, ten seconds later, kicking another one in the guts and stomping on its head.

Hot.

Soon after I reached the last turn, but stopped right before entering the safe zone. Level 2 was a co-op game, people who completed level 1 close to the same time ended up in the same group and had to survive it together. Groups were usually of around five or six players, so I had to be careful if I wanted to be sure to end up in the same group as Armin.

I had been chilling in front of the finish line for a couple of minutes when I saw him running towards it. When he crossed it, we did it together. A few seconds later my private chat lit up.

**Michelangelo wrote: were you waiting for me?**

**Tenn wrote: I saw you playing back there, I wanted to make sure to team up with good players for the next round.**

**Michelangelo wrote: I’m flattered, I hope we end up in the same team, you’re not too bad yourself. Also, I’m partial to Syberia.**

My heart skipped a beat, was it because the character reminded him of me?

 

_“Come on Candy, are you ready? We don’t have the whole day.”_

_“Get in here if you are bored” I replied from the other side of the door, taking one last look at my reflection in the mirror. Tight brown leather trousers, dark green tank top that left part of my midriff exposed and knee-high military boots. I tied my long hair in a ponytail before setting aside the fake shotgun to open the changing room door and letting him in._

_“Wow!” Armin looked me up and down with a glint in his eyes “you are every nerd’s wet dream. I’m not sure I should let you walk around Comicon dressed like this.”_

_“Please” I replied with a dismissive snort “there isn’t a single jealous bone in your body.” I turned back to the mirror and leaned forward to apply some lipstick. I should have probably been the one on the lookout, in that full military attire (bar the beanie) he made for a really dashing Markus._

_He locked the door before coming to stand at my back, putting his hands on my hips._

_“You’re the sexiest Syberia I have ever seen” he whispered in my ear “all those geeks on the other side of this wall can only dream abut touching you.” His hard chest pressed against my back, our eyes locked in the mirror. “But that’s the only thing they can do… dream.” Running his tongue from the bottom of my neck up to my ear, he caught my lob in his teeth._

_“Armin…” I moaned “what are you doing… we don’t have time for this.”_

_His right hand came up to my breast, while his left one made its way down the hem of my pants._

_“No one else can touch you Candy” he whispered, brushing against my sensitive spot, dragging a groan from deep in my throat. “Let me hear you say it.”_

_“No one can touch me” I shivered in his embrace, his fingers keeping their circling motion._

_“Only me.”_

_“Only you.”_

 

 

**Michelangelo wrote: I mean… It’s always useful to have a good sniper in your team.**

**Tenn wrote: Yes. Plus, Syberia is hot. Every nerd’s wet dream, right?**

A part of me wanted to bait him, confuse him, make him wonder. I hadn’t talked to him in four years and now that we were finally here… I was kinda pissed. Fuck… was this my great plan? Catfish him?

Level 2 loaded, my plan had worked, Armin and I were on the same team. All players had been divided in small teams with randomly assigned names (we were _The Eagles_ ), and each had a mission that was either to protect a suitcase from another team or steal it from them. This time we were the protectors.

I smirked, I knew Armin would not be happy, he much preferred being on the offense side. I, on the other hand, was in my element and knew exactly what to do.

“Okay guys” un unknown voice spoke to my ear making me jump in my chair “let’s talk about this.”

Fuck… fuck fuck fuck!!! I had completely forgotten that this part of the game allowed for the players to communicate through their microphones. What was I going to do now? He was going to recognise me right away; four years wasn’t that long of a time to forget someone’s voice.

“Tenn should cover the area from the top of the building.” My heart skipped a beat, it was him! His voice… I would recognise it between thousands. “SpiderWeb should stay back and take out any enemy that manages to infiltrate the outpost. I am going to draw attention to myself at the entrance while GhostVoid and Silver take them out.”

I recognised the nicknames of some of the players who had been in the sewers with us. Damn… the idiot from before was here too.

“Who made you captain of the team, asshole?” SpiderWeb replied as expected.

“If you have a better idea I am all ears” Armin replied calmly.

“Yes I do, I don’t see why I should stay back and leave all the fun to you.”

“Michelangelo is right” a guy, Silver, replied. His character was Lilith, a little girl with pigtails and a huge axe. She was absolutely devastating but easily damageable, she needed a tank to take her hits and Markus was perfect. “Your character, Teslan, is a ninja assassin, he moves in the shadows and specialises in sneak attacks, he should stay inside and protect the target.”

“Teslan is also good for open attacks, let GhostVoid be at the back!”

“But it makes no sense!” GhostVoid cried “I’m a nuker!”

They fought about this for a while, in the end SpiderWeb begrudgingly accepted to wait inside.

“You haven’t said a word Tenn” Armin pointed out “are you okay with this strategy?”

Here it was, the moment of truth. I deepened my voice and replied. This was going to be a disaster.

“Syberia is a sniper so that’s fine with me.”

A few seconds went by.

“Wooooow are you a chick?!” Silver exclaimed.

“Great. A girl on the team. We are fucked.” SpiderWeb said in a monotone.

“Shut up idiot!” GhostVoid replied “I swear to God if we weren’t on the same team you would be dead by now.”

They kept bantering for a few more minutes while getting into position. The game started a few minutes later. I stood on the edge of our base rooftop, rifle in my hand, waiting for the attack.

“I’m sorry about SpiderWeb” Armin’s voice said to my ears on a private communication channel “he’s a real prick.”

“None taken, I’m used to idiots underestimating me because of my gender when I play” I smirked “It usually comes to bite them right in the ass.”

He laughed, the laugh I remembered so well and hit me in the heart. “I bet it does.”

Another pause. Everyone stood still and silent while we waited for the enemy’s arrival.

“You sound familiar Tenn… where are you from?”

I closed my eyes defeated… he was onto me, I knew it! When I opened them back I instantly noticed something that only I could, thanks to my higher vantage point.

“Guys at your back!”

An enemy’s Teslan was sneaking behind my teammates to infiltrate our base. He was just about to strike Armin’s back with a fatal blow when I shot him right in the eyes and killed him instantly. Soon after all hell broke loose. The whole enemy’s team rushed to meet us on the open field.

“Thank you Tenn, a second later and I would have been a goner” Armin said in our private channel while shielding Silver and fighting the opposite team’s tank at the same time. I checked his game with admiration, he really was a force to be reckoned with. When we were together seeing him play had always turned me on a little. I kept shooting enemies whenever I had a chance, but in the crazy melee it was impossible to get another deadly shot. I managed, however, to make a few hits that saved GhostVoid and Silver in more than one occasion.

“You are great” Armin said after I hit the guy he was battling with, dropping his life span “I’m really happy I have you on my team.”

“Thanks…”

“You didn’t reply to my previous question, are you from around here?” he asked.

“Something like that…” I replied evasively.

“What’s your name?”

“So many questions… are you hitting on me?”

“What if I were… I do like hot girl gamers” he said with a hint of mischief in his voice.

“How do you even know I am hot?” I asked trying to hide my nervousness.

“Your game is too good.”

“This… doesn’t make sense at all.”

In that moment I spotted SpiderWeb jumping in the fight.

“Dude, what the fuck!” GhostVoid cried “who is protecting the target now?!”

“Fuck that” SpiderWeb replied “it was boring as hell just watching you all play”

“Guys… there is a missing player in the other team” I said and quickly scanned the map “fuck there is someone in our base… they had another Teslan!”

I left there my long-shot rifle and rushed into the building armed only with a gun. I was the closest one to the target. From the headphones I could hear the voices of my team members arguing and accusing SpiderWeb who was running back trying to make it into the base. I tuned everyone out while running the remaining two flights of stairs.

The moment I got into the target area a ghastly scene presented in front of my eyes, the enemy’s second Teslan had just grabbed our suitcase and was running out of the room. If he made it out of the building we were done for.

I run after him to the hall of the building, I was never going to make it, so I stopped and took aim. Right when he was about to make it through the threshold I hit him in the back of his head, killing him instantly. A second later SpiderWeb entered the area and I shot him in the chest, killing him as well.

“Fuck!” he cried “you killed me!”

“Sorry” I replied with zero conviction “I got confused between Teslans.”

“The hell you did, bitch! You did it on purpose!”

“Mind your words, you useless prick. Another breath and I am going to have you kicked out of this place forever.” Armin replied seemingly calm but with a very cold tone. “We have won, no thanks to you, just shut up and be grateful.”

I looked at the stats and saw that he was right, while I was dealing with the target the team had managed to take out all the remaining enemies. We had won. I sighed of relief and slumped in my chair, closing my eyes.

Now the final level… all against all… no complicated rules here, the game was called Last One Standing for a reason. Looking at the screen I saw that the other battles had also ended, there were three winning teams and, since all players of a winning team moved to the final stage, there were fifteen people left in the game. Which was starting again in five minutes.

“Nice shot” Armin’s voice said, coming from my headphones.

“Thank you, but I was also lucky, the guy was almost out of the base.”

“I am talking about the one that offed SpiderWeb, but the other one was great too” I could picture the smirk on his face.

“Well… he wasn’t wrong, I can really be a bitch sometimes.”

“He deserved it, and I like this ruthless mean streak of yours. Is that how you act in real life too?” he asked.

“Tsk tsk… why do you keep asking me so many questions?”

“I’m interested.” He was serious, no hint of laughter in his voice.

“You shouldn’t be” I murmured guiltily “I’m a mess.”

“I like a challenge” he said self-confident.

“Why don’t we make this more interesting?” he said after a pause “whoever wins this can ask the other one a question.”

“Why should I agree to this?” I asked with a snort.

“Think about it. Is there anything you want to ask me?”

I thought about it for a moment. There were so many things I wanted to know. What was his life now, if he ever thought about me… if he had moved on.

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

In that moment the game restarted and I run to take cover. “Deal” I said, before disappearing from the starting area. I run around for a little while deciding what to do.

There were 15 players, the best and safest option was to hide for a while and let them murder each other until there were just a few players left. The setting was a post-apocalyptic city and, in a street, I found an abandoned building that looked promising. There was no map in this level and I couldn’t see where the other players were, the only indication of the state of the game was the players count on the side of the screen and the announcement that appeared anytime a player was taken out and by whom.

I got in the building and ended up face to face with a player right away. So much for the idea of the place being empty I thought. He must have been even more surprised than I was because, gun already in my hand, I managed to shoot him killing him immediately. The count went down by one and the message ‘Asterfox was killed by Tenn’ appeared on the right side of the screen.

I paused for a second, checking if anyone else was in the area and, when no one came out to kill me, I went upstairs and laying on the rooftop, bracing my rifle, I waited while looking at the street below me. I had no intention of drawing attention to myself, so I was going to shoot only if I were sure I had a perfect chance for an instant-kill.

With that strategy I managed to take out another couple of players. After fifteen minutes there were only six left. Soon after the message ‘SpiderWeb was killed by Michelangelo’ appeared on the screen. I smirked, five to go.

“Where are you Tenn?” said Armin’s voice to my ear, our private channel still open.

“Like I am going to tell you” I snorted.

“Nah, that’s good. I like the chase” laughter in his voice, “some things are worth fighting for.”

I drew my breath feeling like I had been suckerpunched.

 

_I was on the bed, laying on my side and hugging my knees to my chest. I was so tired… my eyes were red and swollen, having been crying for the past hour. Since our phone call._

_“I am tired Armin” I had said “I don’t feel close to you anymore.”_

_Last time I had seen him had been three months before, when he had managed to visit me for a weekend._

_“You are the one who left Candy. I am trying here, I really am. You are the one who is always busy either with school or new friends” he sounded defeated, we both were. This wasn’t the first time we were having that discussion. “Maybe some things are not meant to be and not worth fighting for.”_

_After those words I knew it was going to be the last._

 

“What do you mean?” I asked him, my voice barely shaking.

“That I learned the hard way when it’s time to give up.”

Hot rage washed over me. In that moment I saw him running below my outpost and went for the kill. I really hadn’t thought it through because the position was completely off and I missed him by a long shot. It, however, had been enough to alert him of my position.

“Gotcha!” I saw him running towards my building. I had to leave the roof immediately.

I had just made it down the stairs when he barged into the building and, a moment later, we were both standing there, our guns pointed to each other.

“Well…” he said chuckling “isn’t this a classic case of Mexican standoff. Really funny.”

“Funny?” I barked “nothing funny about it.”

“Oh yes, very funny indeed, because whatever happens to this point on, I have already won.”

“W-what?”

“Yes, if I shoot and kill you, I can ask you whatever I want. If you kill me, you can ask me whatever you want, effectively achieving my goal to have a conversation face to face with you. So winning in the end doesn’t really matter anymore. I would love to be the one running the show though, so I am going to try to win this anyway.”

“Would you throw away the whole competition?” I replied with poison in my voice, “the moment you shoot me I am out of here, and you still have other three people to take before winning the game.”

“I don’t care. As I said, some things are worth fighting for.”

Picking up a stranger girl in a game yes, but me? Not me.

“Well, maybe there’s nothing worth for me here” I pointed my gun at my own temple. “Goodbye Armin” I said, and shoot.

The moment my screen went black I was gathering my things and running out of the shop as fast as I could.

I heard a “Shit!” at my back but didn’t bother turning around. I knew I had surprised him, no one had killed the other, I didn’t owe him any fucking conversation whatsoever.

I got drenched as soon as I stepped out of the shop, it was raining, almost storming. I didn’t know what to do or where to go, I just knew I had to make as much space between me and the man who had given up on me. The man who I loved and who hadn’t found me worth of his time since a long while ago.

“Candy, stop!”

And like a magic spell, I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. We were at the opposite ends of a narrow alley, it was so dark and the rain so heavy that I could barely see two feet in front of me. But I could hear his steps while approaching me. I few moments later, I raised my head and saw him standing in front of me.

Armin was exactly like I remembered him, except well… wetter. Taller and broader than one would expect anyone spending most of his days sitting in front of a pc. His black thick hair was a little longer than before, and were now plastered down to his face by the rain, and his eyes… in the dark I couldn’t see their colour, but I could never forget that deep blue I had lost myself in so many times.

We just stared at each other for a moment.

“Why are you here, Candy?” he said breathless.

“Neither of us won, I don’t have to tell you anything” I replied trying to turn around and leave, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me closer to him.

“Why did you come here?” he repeated “Don’t run away again goddammit.”

“I didn’t run away in the first place, you were the one who gave up on us”, I started to cry, luckily the rain was masking my tears.

“We both did. You had your new life and I was standing in your way. I was in a bad place because of my family and my crazy hacking. I wasn’t strong enough… but I am now.”

I stood there in the rain, with no idea of what to do or what to say.

“Why are you here?”

“Because… I had to know.”

“Know what?”

“What I felt about you.”

“And…?”

“It doesn’t matter” I forced myself to reply, “it’s been four years, you never came back for me.”

“You didn’t either.”

“I just did!” I cried.

“So, you _are_ here to get back together.”

I tried to reply in protest, but his mouth came onto mine with strength, he started kissing me with a passion and ardour I hadn’t felt in so many years. He pushed me against a wall and caged me between his strong arms. His chest pressing against mine.

“I knew it was you from the moment I heard your voice” he said in between kisses “I suspected it even before, the way you play… I could recognise you anywhere, behind any mask.”

He kept kissing me and I realised I hadn’t done anything to stop him.

“When I play that game… part of me does it to feel closer to you. I see you behind every Syberia, I remember all the times we played together, all times we were together…”

He grabbed me by the back of my thighs and raised me so that my eyes were now aligned to his, and my legs around his waist.

“You left but the memory of you never did. I love you Candy, I never stopped and never will.”

Now I was the one kissing him with all I got. I put my hands under his shirt, I had to feel his warmth, to feel him.

“I love you too.”

“There’s no going back from this Candy, you’re mine” he said serious.

“I’ve always been” then I added “And you are mine.”

“Forever” he replied, staring me right in the eye.

My hands on his cheeks I stared him back, “Forever.”

Then I kissed him again, for what would be the first of many, many times.


	3. Armin's sequel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had no plan on writing this, but then I received a request on Tumblr so...  
> It's a short smut scene showing Candy and Armin together following what happened in the previous chapter, beware NSFW.

It was Friday evening and I was extremely tired. The last lecture of the day had ended a while ago, I’d just been through a thesis meeting and I felt weak, both mentally and physically.

Rayan’s lectures were awkward for me at this point, after our kiss a few months ago it seemed we were on the verge of starting something serious, but fate has a strange way to play out.

When I told him that we couldn’t go any further because I was still in love with someone else, he didn’t blame me, he didn’t get mad. I saw hurt in his eyes but he said that he understood, that it was for the best and we could get back to a normal student/teacher relationship. He’d been amazingly understanding but I couldn’t help feeling guilty. I knew he still wanted me.

I could see it in the way he briefly looked at me in class, his eyes focusing on me a little longer that they did on anyone else. I could hear it in the way he spoke my name, with sweetness and thinly concealed longing. The guilt was eating me alive.

And it wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted him at the time, that kiss had been as real to me as it had been to him. I liked him, I still found him attractive as hell, but I couldn’t deny the truth of my feelings any longer.

I loved Armin, I always had and always will.

As if I’d conjured him by simply thinking about him, Armin appeared next to me.

“Armin!” I cried out surprised, throwing myself in his arms, “what are you doing here?”

“Surprise,” he said grinning like a child, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I took the day off and got on a train to spend the weekend with you.”

I felt my heart burst with joy. I missed him all the time. I hadn’t forgotten that our relationship hadn’t survived the distance the first time, but now it was different. We were older, more mature and in a couple of months I would graduate and move to his town. Nothing could come between us.

“Where are you staying? I don’t think Yeleen is willing to share the room with the both of us.” It wasn’t just a thought, I’d asked her several times, and she’d always replied with a very dry no. I understood where she was coming from, still… it wasn’t like we had many other options.

“In Alexy’s room, he’s going to spend the night at Morgan’s. Poor Hyun, not only he has to share his room with both Morgan AND my brother, but he’s also doing it because I’m here visiting the girl he likes,” he said smirking a little.

“Don’t say that, Hyun is happy for us.”

“Sure, because he’s a nice guy. It doesn’t mean he’s not also sad about it, he’s in love with you.”

“He’s not in love with me,” I chastised him.

“At the very least, he has a very big crush. Everyone has it, apparently. I can’t blame them though,” he added, giving me a kiss on the cheek, “how could it be otherwise.”

“You like to tease, no one has a crush on me.”

“Should I remind you what happened with Castiel a few weeks ago? Actually, now that I’m here, should I go beat him up?” He said with an over-the-top serious tone.

He got me there though, Castiel had hit on me right after the party for the launch of his new music video. I went to his place for an innocent cup of tea with a friend, and he’d asked me to spend the night together. I’d obviously rejected him and told Armin, I didn’t want any secrets between us.

“He didn’t know we’d gotten back together, and I told you he apologised. Why am I even trying to reassure you? You’ve never felt jealous a moment in your life, and you’d never get in a fight, not a real one at least, maybe online.”

“I could challenge him to a FPS duel, I would totally crush him,” he replied amused. “What lecture did you just have this late in the evening by the way? Alexy only told me where to find you, not what you were doing,” he said looking around the empty room.

“Just a meeting with my thesis advisor,” this got his attention.

“You mean with  _professor Zaidi_?” He said with a grin, but I could hear a barely concealed spiteful undertone. “You and him, alone in this big empty classroom?”

“Please, don’t tell me you care. You were just enjoying yourself teasing me about people who may or may not have a crush on me.”

He looked at me pensive for a few moments, then gently pushed me against the desk.

“You know I’m not the jealous type,” he said caressing my arms with sweetness, “because I’m sure about your feelings for me, and I know you would never be with anyone else.” Lowering the strap of my dress he uncovered my skin and left a small tender kiss on my shoulder. “But this guy…  _Rayan_ … you like him,” he said kissing my neck, “you flirted with him,” his lips were now on my jaw, “you kissed him.”

I was about to protest when he added, whispering in my ear, “I want to hike up your skirt and take you right here.”

“What? Are you out of your m…”

My words got stuck in my throat when his mouth came crushing onto mine. This kiss was different from the hundreds we had shared during the years. He was always playful and teasing, now instead he was rough and possessive. His hands started roaming all over my body. Cupping both my breasts with heat, fondling them above the dress, I’d never seen him like this, he seemed to be something in between angry and desperate.

Was he actually jealous? For the first time in his life? He must’ve been going crazy right now. I wanted to reassure him, so I raised my hands to his face, my fingers interweaving with his jet-black hair, and answered the kiss with the same ardour.

Abruptly pulling his lips away from mine, he turned me around, bending me over the desk.

“Armin, we can’t! Anyone could come in at any moment.” I tried to protest.

“Come on, Candy,” he said with a tantalising tone, “you and I have always loved playing games…” slipping a hand under my skirt he caressed my inner thigh up to my underwear, massaging above it with loving motions, “let’s see how fast I can make you come before someone finds us.”

I moaned when his finders slipped under the hem of my panties and started caressing between my folds. “What if I make you come first,” I said looking at him over my shoulder.

He just grinned, happy to be having his way once again, so I added, “you’re going down.”

“Maybe later,” he replied slipping a finger inside me, groaning when he felt how wet I already was, “we don’t have much time now.”

Moving aside my underwear, I felt something much bigger than a finger entering me, and with one fluid motion he settled himself to the hilt inside me. The feeling of him… was always the best thing ever.

I thought he would start moving immediately, but he remained still for a moment, then lowering his chest over my back and tucking a lock of hair behind my ear, he whispered, “hello love, I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” I panted, our lips a mere inch apart. Then he raised again, hands grabbing my hips with possess, and started moving with a quick and precise flow. I loved how the only times he was this absorbed and completely focused were when we were playing a game or making love. When we were doing both? It was magical.

“You really wanted to take me on his desk,” I said when he started increasing his speed, I had to grab the side to steady myself.

“Did you?” he asked, pumping into me even faster, “did you want him to take you on his desk? Or somewhere else? Maybe you still want to?” I could hear a small note of uncertainty in his voice.

“I came to you, Armin. I want you. Just you.” I barely had the strength to reply, I could feel the heat build up inside me, and I didn’t want to lose. I started pushing back against him squeezing my muscles hard, knowing he would’ve felt me even tighter around him. I heard him moan and, with the barest self-control replied, “You’re playing dirty, Candy, with your sweet words and your even sweeter pussy. I’m not going to lose that easily.”

Moving his arm around me, he started caressing my clit and I knew that I was about to lose it completely. After a few extra pumps we both came hard, stifling our moans trying not get caught.

I knew I had to adjust myself and leave the classroom immediately, every second we stayed there was incredibly risky but, in that moment, I was so tired and content that I didn’t really care.

“I don’t think anyone won, we came at the same time,” I said when I finally found the strength to raise from the desk and turn around, seeing him tucking himself in his jeans was so sexy that I was almost willing to start all over again.

He fixed my dress and, taking my chin between his fingers, he looked me in the eyes and said, “I won, Candy, the day you came back for me. Everyday since then is always a victory, because you are with me.”

And when he took my lips again, his body flushed against mine, I knew it in my heart.

I had won too.


End file.
